Blue-footed booby - and yes, that's its real name.

Blue-footed boobies photographed near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Once you've done snickering, there is something amazing to learn about this stately bird.  The blue colour of their feet actually has an evolutionary basis.  The feet aren't always the same colour.  There is a correlation between the shade of blue and breeding success.  The darker blue the feet are, the higher the probability that the chicks will be healthy.  

The excursion we were on took us by boat along the coast south of Puerto Vallarta.  While we were cruising at a fairly quick pace, fish-eating birds started to show up around us.  There may have been a dozen or so at one point.  Fish would zip out of the way of the swiftly moving boat, only to be caught by a diving booby.  There were actually two species: the blue-footed variety and another called the brown booby (more snickering).  Both were eager to catch all the fish they could get.

I photographed the one on the rock while we passed a large stack near the port.  The area is off-limits to people as it is a sensitive nesting site for such birds.  However, we were at least 100 feet away from it; my 500 mm lens on my crop-sensor camera gave me more than enough magnification to get a decent photo. 

What an awesome outing we had.  Best adventure ever.

Thanks for reading.  

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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